Cutting Table Upgrade

Today Darling Husband and I trekked out to IKEA to pick up the parts to upgrade my cutting table.  It worked great as a cutting table, but I felt like there was so much space just being wasted.

This project requires two peeps to complete.  DH was kind enough to be my second peep for the project.  He also helped me carry the heavy boxes from the car.

Here is the old cutting table (I posted about this back in 2011).  He'd seen this IKEA hack on the IKEA Hackers site and thought it might be modified to fit my needs.  I took some measurements and did some math to make sure it would work for my workflow and comfort.  I like a cutting surface at around 36 inches high.  This is about what most kitchen counters are in height and is a good working height to help me avoid back pain resulting from hours of cutting.

We picked up the pictured pieces from IKEA to complete the upgrade.  I'm not going to give a step-by-step, just some pictures of the major assembly points.

First, we assembled the EXPEDIT bookcases.  The upside is that DH didn't smoosh my fingers during any of the assembly.  Which resulted in at least 50% less cursing than past IKEA projects.

Then, we attached six 4" CAPITA legs to each bookcase and stuck the little fuzzy feet that came with the bookcases to each of them.  If you plan on doing something like this, make sure you bring your drill.  Pilot holes are must for this kind of thing.  Trying to screw through that laminate layer will not make you happy camper.

Two peeps were also required to turn the shelf units over onto their little legs.  We added some of that no-skid drawer liner to the tops of the shelving unit.  I didn't want to screw the tabletop to the shelf units, so this will keep everything in place.  I spaced them far enough apart that there is a small overhang on the outside edges. 

Two peeps were required to put the top on without mishap.  The top is actually made of two IKEA tabletops (LINNMON) held together with flat bracing screwed to the underside.

I don't want to fill up all those little shelves with bins, drawers or doors until I understand what I want to do with the space.  I did pick up a couple bins, but I'll wait until the next time I go to IKEA for more, if I decide I want more.

I did decide I wanted at least on drawer unit on the right-hand side.  This is where I'll keep my scissors and rotary cutter.  The drawer below is for pins, seam ripper and pencils for marking.  I'm sure more junk will find its way in there, but right now this is what it holds.

I took a couple panoramic shots of the room in an attempt to capture both the amount of stuff in here as well as show how helpful this added storage space is.  This is the "before" picture.  Mostly because it shows piles of stuff all over the place.  I'm generally an organized person.  That means I know what is in every one of those piles.  (I know the panoramic is a little weird in a space this small.  For reference, you're seeing two sides to this small space in one image.)

Here is the "after" picture.  I've managed to tidy up a bunch of the surfaces and even put up some idea boards.  Everyone should have at least one of these.  A place to pin all kinds of things: scraps of fabric, pictures from magazines or printed from the internet.  Anything that inspires is fair game. 

I still have some work to do in the organization arena.  At least I've got a good start on it.  I should quit fooling around with the furniture and go back to sewing.  Although, now I think I need another shelving unit and some kind of storage that will be the base of my ironing station.  Hmmm... I need to make some kind of plan.